Home Truths is a haunted house story. No really – it really is. And it’s a incredibly well-constructed one that works particularly well on audio. I can see this one becoming an annual Halloween favorite. Home Truths begins with the First Doctor (as played by William Hartnell in the original Doctor Who television series), Sara Kingdom, and Steven Taylor landing the TARDIS inside a house. Yes, inside the house – wherein becomes the problem, because they can’t leave by the traditional method – the door, the house has been well and truly sealed. And if you’re wondering how a companion could be traveling around with the Doctor when she’s mostly famous for dying (opps, sorry, spoiler there – but we are talking about a character death from 1966, ok, 50 years – that’s well enough time to not need a spoiler warning) – it turns out that Sara per canon did travel in the extremely unreliable TARDIS for awhile. Anyway, the trio alight the TARDIS and almost immediately stumble over the dead body of a woman, and later, a young man. The deserted house is strewn with wedding presents, most not even unwrapped. The Doctor starts to figure out the mystery when a glass of water appears near his hand, and he remarks that he was thinking about how he’d like some water. But it’s Sara who makes a mistake – placing her hand in a hand-shaped groove near the near from the kitchen. Sara had thought it was a door control, similar to the security panels in her own time. But Sara’s innocent action will have far reaching consequence – that stretch into the two sequels that follow this story, The Drowned World, and The Guardian of the Solar System.

Eventually, the Doctor, with some help from Sara and Steven solves the mystery – which I’m not going to reveal, though the truth is quite horrifying. I’m also not going to reveal here what effect Sara’s innocent action would have. The story is also framed as an interview between the mysterious “Robert”, a policeman of sorts, and Sara, who narrates the story.

Sara is played, wonderfully, by Jean Marsh (Sara Kingdom in Doctor Who “The Daleks Masterplan”; Morgaine in Doctor Who “Battlefield”; and Rose the Lady’s Maid in the original Upstairs, Downstairs). Robert is played by Niall MacGregor. Home Truths is written by Simon Guerrier and directed by Lisa Bowerman.